Safe House
by dolphin-sailor
Summary: When the head researcher for a new strain of Athrax goes missing it's up to our team to find him and stop the siege on the city of Los Angeles. Except, sometimes they forget they're not invincible.
1. Chapter 1

An early Saturday morning saw Deeks slouch into work, his eyes still half shut.

"God, someone tell me that this is an announcement that we're getting an all-expenses paid trip to Bora Bora, because who calls people into work at…" he checked his watch, "…at 0600. I mean really?"

He blearily opened his eyes, expecting to see the rest of the team and was surprised to be met with an empty office.

"Up here Mr Deeks"

He glanced over his shoulder and saw Hetty standing at the top of the stairs. "The rest of the team is already in OPS"

Knowing he was already going to be given a hard time for being late anyway, Deeks trudged up the stairs and into the tech centre.

"And here he is, world champion for the longest time spent sleeping. I give you Mr Martin Deeks"

Callen and Kensi Nell and Eric all stood applauding as they gathered around the centre screen of OPS while Sam raised Deeks fist like a heavyweight champion.

"It's literally been like four hours since we were last here. I might as well get a trailer and live outside" Deeks told the grinning team.

"If you would proceed please Mr Beale" Hetty motioned to the big screen.

"Right, yes" Eric started tapping on his tablet as photos leapt onto the screen. "This is Lieutenant David Moore, a navy scientist based here in Los Angeles. We have been called in because yesterday he didn't turn up to work"

"Why does that warrant us being called in on a Saturday morning" moaned Deeks.

"Because he was the lead scientist working on a newly discovered strain of Anthrax. If exposed it could infect the whole city in a matter of days. There's no cure as of yet. We believe that he has not intentionally disappeared, but has been taken" Eric finished with a flourish.

"At the same time as he took leave, his daughter Beatrice Moore disappeared. There's been no paper trail. No contact was made from either of them. LAPD just picked up her up for breaking and entering moments before Eric called you in" Nell informed the team. "She's our only lead".

"Why have they waited so long to get us involved" Callen stood with his arms folded, staring up at the photos of the lieutenant and his daughter.

"Lieutenant Moore had taken a week off. Only yesterday did they realise that he was missing Mr Callen" Hetty stood in the doorway of OPS.

"I want you and Mr Hanna to visit his workplace. The address is on your phones. Mr Deeks and Miss Blye will talk to Miss Moore. She's on route to the boatshed as we speak…" she paused and waited until Sam and Callen had left the room.

"Mr Deeks, Miss Blye. I hear Beatrice Moore gave the officers this morning quite the run for their money. Keep your wits about you".


	2. Chapter 2

LAPD had not arrived at the boatshed by the time the two junior agents arrived. Nell popped up on the screen just as they had sat down at the table.

"From what I've found through it seems that Beatrice Moore has had quite the life. Her mother stole away with her when she was 7. It looks like she wasn't treated too well. Found in a hotel room 18 months later with her mother dead. Coroner reports an OD. Placed back with her father. He's had several other women in her life between then and now, but it looks as though none of them have stayed"

Kensi frowned. "How old is she Nell?"

"According to her birth certificate she's just short of 16"

"Huh" Deeks looked thoughtfully at Kensi, drawing parallels to her childhood. She was taken by her mother when she was little, and she too was 15 when her father was killed.

Nell disappeared from the screen just as there was a knock on the boatshed door and two LAPD officers walked in escorting the young girl.

"Yo Brian, what up man" Deeks called to the most sullen looking of the two, a cheesy grin plastered on his face.

"Deeks" Detective Brian glowered at the LAPD liaison. "This one is all yours"

"I hear you had a bit of a rough pursuit" Deeks chuckled, and was met with a scowl from the LAPD officer. "Maybe it's time you retired".

He took a look at the girl in question. Beatrice Moore stood around 5'6, with her arms cuffed behind her. One look told Deeks she'd been on the streets for a while. The dress she was wearing was stained with dirt and her tangled black hair was falling out of its tie. Bruises and scraped littered her arms and legs. Some were patched, others remained raw

"Right. We've got her from here" Deeks motioned to the cops to let her go, but as they did so Detective Brian's partner gave her a slight push and she tripped. Unable to stay upright she fell, landing on her shoulder and all four adults heard the unmistakable pop of what sounded like a something moving internally. She lay motionless, arms still cuffed behind her back.

"Get outta here" Deeks growled at the two detectives as he and Kensi rushed to her aid. Deeks went to roll Beatrice over and as he did so she gasped, her eyes rolled back and she went limp.

Kensi was already on the phone to Eric, getting an ambulance.

"Mongrel" Deeks muttered. Although he was still on of them he had little respect for how many of the LAPD detectives treated suspects in their charge. He dug around in his back pocket, withdrew a key and uncuffed the young girl.

Her shoulder sat at an unusual angle and Deeks knew it was a textbook dislocation. Brushing her hair from her face he could feel heat radiating from her forehead.

"Ambo is fifteen minutes out. They said the traffic is nuts" Kensi knelt next to Deeks.

"She dislocated her shoulder in the fall, and she's running a temperature. This here…" Deeks peeled a crude dressing off her knee. "…is what is causing it".

Just above Beatrice's knee was an angry looking horizontal gash. Infection was clearly visible, with tell tail red streaks racing up and down her leg.

"Septicaemia?" Kensi proposed. Placing two fingers on Beatrice's throat she felt for her pulse.

"Rapid heart rate, and fast but shallow breathing. All consistent symptoms".

Beatrice's eyes suddenly snapped open.

"Hey, hey, you're okay" Deeks reassured. "We're going to get you to a hospital. You dislocated your shoulder when you fell, and your knee needs looked at by a doctor".

Her eyes flickered as she tried to stay conscious.

"What's she saying?" Deeks asked Kensi as he saw Beatrice's lips move. Kensi put her head closer.

"The-they're after me. N-not safe" she whispered before she passed back out.

At the same moment Eric appeared on the boatshed screen.

"Kensi, Deeks. We have a problem"

"What Eric" Deeks and Kensi were both on their feet.

"We've been reviewing footage from where Beatrice was found, and it looks as though she's been pursued over the last week by the same team of men. Twice we've seen altercations between her and them, but both times she's escaped"

"Team, as in hit squad? Or team as in the Dodgers? Because I'm missing a signature on my cereal cards from…oww!" Deeks stopped talking as Kensi punched him in the arm.

Nell rushed onto the screen. "Uh guys, there are five armed men approaching the boatshed. Consider them hostiles. Sam and Callen are on their way, but they're four minutes out".

Both Deeks and Kensi immediately unholstered their weapons.

"She wasn't kidding" Kensi muttered to Deeks. "There are definitely people after her"

Kensi thought for a minute about the best way to hold off the assailants.

"Move her upstairs. We'll have to barricade ourselves up there and hope Sam and Callen hurry".

Deeks hauled Beatrice into his arms and the two agents and wounded civilian retreated into the small room upstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam and Callen sped towards the boatshed, weaving in and out around cars and down side streets.

"What's happening Eric!" Callen asked loudly, bracing himself as the challenger swung around a narrow corner.

"They've surrounded the boatshed. Kensi and Deeks are upstairs with Beatrice. They're going to stay out of site and hold them off until you get there" Eric relayed into Callen's earpiece.

"We're here" Sam told Eric, pulling up to the boatshed just as two assailants booted the door open.

"Sam, Callen! A little help here" Kensi shouted as she started firing a volley of rounds towards the entering men. They had little shelter, an awful shooting angle and only two rounds of ammo between them. Their sigs were no match for the automatic assault rifles.

Sam and Callen sprinted towards the assailants, tightening the straps on their flak jackets. Taking down one man they retreated behind a closer vehicle as steady machine gun bullets pierced the air where they had been moments before.

"Sam, Callen, we're pinned here! Kensi is empty" Deeks voice scratched through their coms.

"Cover me!" Callen yelled at Sam. Sam crouched at the end of the vehicle, leant round and started shooting at the two remaining men outside as Callen dashed around the boatshed.

"Where are the guys Eric!" Callen yelled over the gunfire, sheltering against the wall.

"Callen, I can't see. They shot out the camera. We are blind! I repeat, we are blind!"

"Deeks!"

"Can't see. They have us pinned. Maybe near the stairs" Deeks shouted.

The first intruder had just started to climb the inside stairs as Callen entered. Caught by the element of surprise the second intruder swung round and fired a volley of bullets at Callen who didn't have enough time to duck behind anything.

With the attention on Callen the first intruder had turned his back and Deeks was able to emerge from the wall he was sheltering behind, sinking two bullets into the assailants back. Without anytime to aim he swung round and fired another round which hit the second assailant. The gunfire stopped just as suddenly as it had started, the first man falling limply down the stairs and the second crumpling to the ground. The sound of tired screamed outside as Sam came bursting in. The last assailant had escaped.

"G" Sam bellowed, and looking down to the lower floor Deeks heart stopped. Callen lay motionless on the floor.

Sam knelt beside Callen, and with shaking hands rolled him from his side onto his back. Callen's vest had been hit three times, and for a moment he thought Callen had got off lightly.

"Sam" Callen tried to inhale, but it felt like air wasn't entering his lungs.

"Hang on G" Sam reassured him. "Let me get your vest off"

"Can't breathe" Callen gasped.

"Eric, we need an ambulance!" Sam called urgently, watching as the blood drained from Callen's face.

"Already one in route, just arriving. Sending for another"


	4. Chapter 4

"Mr Hanna, if I were you I'd kindly sit down before you wear a hole in the linoleum" Hetty advised Sam. He was pacing back and forth, glancing every two seconds at the doors to the emergency room. It felt like hours since Callen had been whisked away in the first ambulance. He had caught the words 'pneumothorax' and 'oxygen shortage' as the paramedics tended to G in the boatshed, but otherwise was in the dark about the damage his partner had suffered. Sam had not been allowed to ride along and by the time he had reached the hospital Hetty had already been there.

"We should have heard by now" Sam snapped, dropping heavily into a chair beside the operations manager.

Hetty nodded understandingly. She too was becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of information.

"Where's Deeks and Kensi?" Sam asked, trying to think of anything besides Callen.

"With Miss Moore. They've been allowed to stay with her, due to the – shall we say – 'sensitivity' of the case"

"You mean the fact that there's people after her but we have no idea who" said Sam.

"Exactly" Hetty sighed, pursing her lips tighter.

* * *

Kensi and Deeks waited outside a hospital room in the west wing, heads quietly together as they ran notions of who could have been behind the attack.

"Well, there's obviously ISIS" Deeks muttered. "Or maybe the Islamic Jihad Union, or the Irish Republican Army"

"Really Deeks!" Kensi hissed at him. "The IRA".

"You never know" he shrugged, his mind on Callen.

A doctor exited the room beside which they were standing and stopped before them.

"She came in with a hefty dislocation of the right shoulder. Additionally we found a spiral fracture in that same forearm which looked to be recent, but more like three or four days ago" he told the duo.

Kensi nodded. "That matches the timeline Nell built, her first altercation with the gang".

"Additionally her scrapes have been treated. She's on intravenous antibiotics for the septicaemia. We fortunately caught it before it developed into full blown sepsis. She'll need to stay for a few days until we can isolate the bacterium and prescribe some narrow-spectrum antibiotics. You can go in now, but a word of caution. She's extremely weak. I won't have you going in and disturbing her with questioning. We need to keep her heart rate down, and her oxygen stats up" the doctor drilled.

Kensi and Deeks nodded their understanding and quietly entered the room.

Beatrice lay in the single hospital bed, her recently cast right arm propped up on a couple of pillows. Her eyes were closed, and furrows in her forehead told the pair that she was not resting comfortably. She fought to open her eyes when Kensi and Deeks entered.

"Hey Beatrice, I'm Detective Marty Deeks with the LAPD and this is Agent Blye, NCIS" Deeks flipped his badge at her. "Do you remember us?"

Beatrice shook her head, grimacing as the small movement caused an increase in pain. She looked up at the shaggy haired detective. He reminded her of Mikey. Did they know about Mikey? Her breathing shallowed.

"Do you know where you are?" Kensi asked. Receiving no response she went on. "We're here because your father is missing. Do you think you might know where he is?"

Beatrice's eyes glazed slightly as she kept eye contact with Deeks. Deeks held her gaze, waiting for her to start speaking but it didn't happen. A few seconds later her eyelids began to sink and she fought to keep them open.

"Beatrice" Kensi urged her to keep her eyes open a little longer. "It's extremely important. Did he tell you anything?"

"They're after me" she murmured as the pain meds dragged her back under.

* * *

On the other side of the hospital things were going better. After Hetty had threatened the charge doctor with loss of job they received an update on Callen. He had suffered two broken ribs from the force of the bullets hitting his vest, puncturing his lung and causing a pneumothorax. Additionally the fall had caused extensive bruising to his left hip. Hetty and Sam had been let through to see him in the ER, and now sat beside his bed in a ward on the north wing.

"How do you feel G" Sam asked tentatively.

"Like I was hit by a bus" mumbled Callen. The tube inserted into his chest was extremely uncomfortable and he was having trouble catching his breath. Supplementary oxygen was being delivered to Callen through a nasal cannula but it wasn't making him feel much better.

"You worried us Mr Callen" Hetty scolded.

Callen grinned in spite of himself. He knew it must have been bad to warrant Hetty admitting she was worried. His grin faded as the pain surged again and he felt the hated feeling of pain meds trying to pull him into oblivion. Just as he had begun to lose the fight the doctor entered.

"Mr Callen" he greeted. "As you can see we have inserted a chest tube that will need to remain in place for the next few days to remove excess air build up in the chest cavity. You're extremely lucky. Any more broken ribs and you would have had what we call a flail chest which would have been life threatening. You got off lightly. I understand your line of work is extremely physical" he acknowledged, "however this is not the sort of injury you can just spring back from. You'll be on bed rest for the next week, and low stress activity for the couple of weeks after that".

Callen listened in shock as the doctor described his recovery, trying to keep his head clear.

"Mr Callen"

Callen looked up at the doctor who had apparently just asked him a question.

"Sorry?"

"Do you have any questions?"

"How about you switch my meds to something that won't make me tired" Callen proposed.

"Don't panic doc" Sam grinned. Callen never took to sleep very well. "G just can't believe he won't be able to chase bad guys for a while. Don't you worry. I'll see he follows the doctors' orders".

The doctor departed the room and Callen allowed himself to relax back into the pillows, groaning as he tried to adjust his hip.

"Take it easy G. You were shot only a few hours ago"

Callen struggled to fight the sleep, but it was a losing battle and before long his eyes shut and his breathing evened.

"Keep an eye on him Mr Hanna" Hetty told Sam as she raised herself from the hospital chair. "I'm going to return to the office. There is someone who is trying to kill our only lead, and in doing so has hurt one of our own. There will be consequences".


	5. Chapter 5

Callen awoke, heart racing before he realised where he was. Blearily gazing around his hospital room through the semi darkness he saw his partner passed out in a chair beside the bed and his heart rate slowed.

"Sam" he croaked. "You should go home".

"Go back to sleep G" muttered Sam sleepily.

"Can't" Callen tried to remember what he had been dreaming about.

 _He was running, chasing a woman. She was faster than him and disappeared into the foggy industrial area._

 _"_ _Stop, or I shoot" he yelled into the void._

 _He walked into the fog, gun held at the ready as he approached the woman. She turned and faced him and he blinked, not sure if he was seeing right._

 _"_ _Mum?"_

"G" Sam's voice cut through his thoughts as Callen wearily rubbed a hand over his face.

"Bad dreams?"

"Nah, dam tube is uncomfortable"

Sam had known him long enough to know when he was lying.

"G!"

"I'm fine" Callen tried to roll over onto his left side and groaned. The pain had heightened and he could tell his temperature was elevated. "This sucks"

"I can get a nurse?"

"I'm fine" he repeated, settling on his back gingerly and closing his eyes. "Well, at least I will be when I get out of this place"

Sam stretched and yawned widely. "In that case I'm going to go stretch my legs and go and see what's happening with Kensi and Deeks, and maybe pick us up a pre-dawn snack".

"A coffee would be appreciated" Callen told Sam, his eyes still shut.

* * *

Sam was strolling down the hallways to the west wing with a holder of coffee in his hand when his phone rang and caller ID showed the operations managers name.

"Morning Hetty. You're up early" he said.

"Good morning Mr Hanna. I haven't been to bed yet. How is our agent doing?"

"He's good. Ready to blow the joint" Sam grinned. "Everything fine at your end?"

"Miss Jones and Mr Beale haven't managed to identify any of the men you shot yet. I sent them home for the night an hour ago" she said grimly. "I've managed to secure a safe house for Miss Moore. In a couple of days she can be moved to it, and since Mr Callen is out of action I will be stationing him there as protective detail".

"He's gonna hate that" Sam chuckled. I'll see you later Hetty. Make sure you go home and get some sleep too" he reminder her.

Hanging up outside Beatrice's door he knocked softly and entered.

"Trust Deeks" he snorted to himself, seeing the unkempt detective fast asleep with his feet up on the bed.

"Yo Deeks, Where's kens?" he asked, shaking the detective.

"I sent her home" Deeks blearily goot to his feet, and spotting the coffee in Sam's hand his yawn ended in a grin. "Nothing is happening here. The alias we admitted her under seems to be holding".

"Did she say anything yet?"

"More than the 'they're after me' crap, nah"

Sam looked at the sleeping girl and was reminded forcefully in another world that could be his daughter lying there.

"Take it easy on her, she's had it pretty rough the last week. Hetty has secured a safe house we can transfer her to in a couple of days, and G is going to be stationed there as protective detail since he can't really do much else"

Deeks choked at these words, just as he was taking a sip of coffee. "Callen, basically sitting out of the case. He'll love that" he spluttered sarcastically.

The two stood side by side, quietly bantering back and forth as they tried rid the feeling of restlessness one often gets when confined for too long.

Beatrice woke to the low hum of their voices, but kept her eyes shut as she tried to recall the past 24 hours. Running. Hiding. So hungry. Police. And then…and then what? Pain. Hot white pain in every movement. And then she had woken up here. That man, what was his name? She drew a blank. He had been there. And that woman.

Beatrice tensed unconsciously, hated memories of her mother coming to the surface. Women tended to bring those up, and she hated it. With each new woman her father had brought around the more distant she had become. Staying out late, not going home. Crashing at mates places. Hatred rose as she thought about her mother. Her mother who was supposed to protect her. Make her feel safe. But instead…"

The monitor beside her let out rapid, loud beeps as her heart rate spiked, her head felt light and she opened her eyes to see the two agents moving urgently towards her.

Deeks pressed the pager for the doctor as he urgently called her name. Her eyes looked at him and he saw a dark flash of hatred in them before it was masked. What had she been thinking about?

"Deep breaths" Sam coached, seeing she was struggling for air. "In, out, in out"

As he took deep, steadying breaths she followed suit and he watched as her breathing evened and her heart rate dropped.

"Better?"

She nodded as the doctor entered the room.

"Ah, I see it's time for another dose of pain meds" he smiled. "I'll send in a nurse"

She looked up at the two agents who were still looking at her, and both could see that it wasn't the pain that had caused the sudden spike in heart rate.

"Beatrice?" Deeks started tentatively.

"Bea" she closed her eyes, now becoming aware of the pain coming from her arm.

"What?"

"Bea, not Beatrice" she spoke softly.

"Right" Deeks looked at Sam for help. Sam shrugged, then held up the coffee pointed to the door. Watching Sam make his exit Deeks flopped back down in the bedside chair.

"You wanna talk?" he asked.

Bea shook her head. Who did he think he was? She was not going to start spilling her guts to some cop.

"Tomorrow" he told her firmly "I need to ask you some questions and it has to be sooner rather than later"


End file.
